feeling stupid ... did I do the right thing?
#289887 - 11/13/06 09:16 AM
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jen1013
Reged: 05/06/05
Posts: 1322
Loc: the wabe
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Last night I woke up from a dead sleep with horrible chest pain. I couldn't even get out of bed at first because it was so bad. Eventually, I did manage to get up, and I took doses of Zantac, Pepto Bismol, and Tums on the theory that it was just some sort of indigestion or reflux-related. However, I'm on Aciphex for acid reflux and I just don't get bad reflux when I'm on it. I also didn't eat anything that could've caused pain, plus it just didn't feel like reflux.
Anyway, so I sat up for awhile and the pain didn't go away, and after about 45 minutes after I first got up I ended up going to the ER. We live 35 miles from the closest hospital, so this in itself is an ordeal. I also had to wake my husband up and get him to drive me.
They did an EKG and bloodwork and chest x-rays and said I was fine. The doctor made me feel like an idiot for coming in because my odds of having heart disease were astronomical (I'm female and 25). I also felt really bad because my husband ended up getting practically no sleep, and of course there was the long trip to and from the hospital in the pouring rain. 
So when is it "better to be safe than sorry" and when are you overreacting? I know it's very unlikely to have heart problems at my age, but I'd had an abnormal cardiopulmonary stress test this past summer and I guess that did prey on my mind a little bit. Plus I have multiple health problems and it would be just my luck to have something new develop. This is the first time I've gone to the ER in over two years of having health problems.
What do you guys think? Should I have just stayed home? 
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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How scary!!
I think you did the right thing. If I woke in the middle of the night with chest pain that wouldn't go away - I think I would have gone too. Don't let those stupid docs make you feel stupid!!!
Did they give you any indication of what could have caused the pains?
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>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<
Michelle
IBS-A, pain predominant
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How scary! I think you did the right thing. Better safe than dead.
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It's the doctor who's the idiot. Just remember, if you'd stayed home and died of a heart attack, this same guy would have been sitting around with his buddies the next day going, "She was an idiot. If only she'd come to the ER we could have saved her. I mean, did she think that just because she's a 25-year-old female nothing could go wrong with her? Geez, you'd think the abnormal stress test would have given her a clue. People, I swear."
How are you feeling now?
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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You did the right thing. I'm 24 weeks pregnant and ended up in the ER a couple of weeks ago for worse-than-normal stomach pains and pain/discomfort when breathing. Felt stupid the entire time I was there.
I also went to the ER when I was pregnant with my first, only to be sent home with some rubber gloves and suppositories. Felt like a retard then as well.
But, better safe than sorry. I'm starting to understand that myself.
I'm glad that they didn't find anything seriously wrong.
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~jules
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I agree, better to be safe than sorry, especially if its a new pain that you have never had before. Don't let the doctor get you down, I would have done the same thing! I hope you are feeling better today!
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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I had a similar experience.....my lung collapsed spontaneously about.....6 or 7 years ago. (wow, has it been that long??). I mean, out of the blue, I wake up one day, it hurts to carry my back pack so I switch sides, and as I'm meeting with someone about my graduate thesis, it gets harder and harder to breathe. I leave the meeting, and drive straight to the emergency room, wander around until someone finds me, and find out my lung is 60% collapsed. A pretty scary thing, since there was NO reason. It typically happens to tall, skinny males that smoke. Fits me to a T right? HAH! 
Anyway, I ended up being in the hospital for 5 days and needing surgery to repair it, which was scary. But it turned out fine.
A few months later, I started feeling a similar pain. I asked my dad to drive me to the hospital, and it was about 10:00 at night. Actually, I think my husband (then boyfriend) came with. Well, it turned out to be...anxiety!! I felt like a TOTAL idiot. But shoot...if it HAD been another lung thing, well, I just wanted to know. So don't feel bad! Better to be proactive and on top of your health than to be that unlucky person who could have been saved IF ONLY they had acted sooner.......
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Jen,
You did the right thing. Some doctors have a way of making people feel stupid. We've probably all been there with that, I know I have. One thing that crossed my mind. Had you recently had the flu shot? I had an allergic reaction to the flu shot this year and I had lots of chest pain and hives for about 36 hours. I woke the physician on call to discuss it and was told to take benedryl.
A few words about chest pain. If it helps even one person, I'll be glad I said it. My Mother had chest/back pain that she brushed off. She had recently had a complete physical, so she kept saying that she was sure she was healthy, just getting old. One day the pain got worse and she did not go for help. She died that day at home. It was very sudden. You just can't fool around with this kind of pain because you never know.
I hope you are feeling better now.
Laura
Edited by lj (11/13/06 06:14 PM)
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Never feel bad about protecting your health and life. Some doctors need to be reminded who really is the boss. Don't ever be afraid to say, "Just who do you think you are talking to?" when someone talks down to you ... especially when you are paying the bill!
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 Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”. Mary Anne Radmacher
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...and that doctor is an idiot for making you feel like you should have stayed home. Shame on HIM - you did exactly what you're supposed to do in that situation, even with low odds.
(And for the record, my mom's best friend's son just had a heart attack a couple months ago - 29 years old and otherwise healthy. It CAN happen.)
I'm glad it turned out to be nothing major!!
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